Author: Fatimah Idera

UK house prices were flat in March and the market is likely to stay soft after a tax increase on property transactions, mortgage lender Nationwide. The average price of a home was unchanged at £271,316 in March, compared with February’s 0.4% monthly rise, according to Nationwide building society. The annual growth rate stayed at 3.9%, masking big regional variations. In Northern Ireland, annual price growth accelerated to 13.5%, the highest in the region since 2021. Scotland posted a 3.9% annual rise, while Wales was close behind at 3.6%. As of Tuesday, Britain’s government has lowered the price threshold at which…

Britain handed Italian defence company Leonard a 165 million pound ($213 million) contract extension on Tuesday to maintain the Royal Navy’s fleet of 54 Merlin helicopters, a deal which it said would help support 1,000 jobs across the country. Britain, which plans to boost defence spending to 2.5% of economic output by 2027, said the deal with Leonardo would help bolster national security. “This investment demonstrates our unwavering commitment to maintaining cutting-edge defence capabilities that keep us safe, while utilising defence as an engine for economic growth,” Maria Eagle, the minister for defence procurement and industry, said in a statement.…

Donald Trump has signed and approved Sir Keir Starmers controversial deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The details of the agreement with the Mauritian government are now being finalised which includes a leaseback arrangement for the Diego Garcia airbase. Speaking about the progress of the deal on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said; “I think the finalisation of the deal is ongoing, but we’ll obviously provide an update as and when we’ve got one.” Asked whether the UK was still waiting for Mr Trump to approve the agreement, he said: “I mean, you will have seen from…

Britain’s top mobile network provider including Vodafone (VOD.L) and BT’s EE (BT.L) on Monday urged a London tribunal to throw out a mass lawsuit valued at over 3.2 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) for allegedly overcharging customers. The case which is also brought against Telefonica’s O2 (TEF.MC) and Hutchison’s (0001.HK) Three UK, whose $19 billion merger with Vodafone was approved last year – is being brought on behalf of over 28 million British consumers. The networks are alleged to have charged customers who remained with the network after their minimum contract expired a loyal penalty, by continuing to charge for mobile…

Britain’s King Charles is returning to public duties this week after he was briefly taken to hospital last Thursday when he experienced side effects from his cancer treatment. The 76-year-old monarch has been undergoing treatment since he was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer in February last year following tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. The monarch will be carrying out a mix of public engagements, state duties and private meetings over the coming days.However, he suffered what sources described as a minor bump in the road which meant he was taken to hospital for a…

The Bank of England has proposed raising the protection limit for savers in case a bank fails to 110,000 pounds ($142,300), it said on Monday. The scheme provides financial protection to depositors in case banks, building societies, and credit unions become insolvent. The deposit protection limit is the maximum amount of money that is typically protected for savers should their bank fail and under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has been capped at 85,000 pounds since 2017. The BoE began examining an overhaul of the guarantee scheme in 2023, after the rapid collapse of the UK arm of Silicon…

South African coal-fired power stations have received limited exemptions from air quality laws and harmful emissions reduction regulations, the environment minister said on Monday, but he stressed that the measures did not constitute a “blanket reprieve”. The government is struggling to strike a balance between calls to reduce its carbon footprint and stop harmful emissions and the need to provide electricity to Africa’s most advanced economy, which has stagnated due to power cuts. Power utility Eskom, whose fleet of old coal-fired power plants generates most of South Africa’s electricity, had applied to exempt eight of its plants from minimum emission…

Japanese banks may need to offer business turnaround support to companies hit by tariffs imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the head of the country’s banking lobby said. Many large Japanese firms, including major exporters and manufacturers, are grappling with U.S. duties on imports of steel and aluminium and a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks starting this week. “We think tariffs could lead to a deterioration in corporate earnings,” the new chair of the Japan Banks Association, Junichi Hanzawa, told Reuters in an interview. “We will have to ascertain whether this weighs on employment…

WH Smith is set to sell its more than 230-year-old British high street business to Hobbycraft-owner Modella Capital, a private equity firm for 76 million pounds ($98 million) to focus on global travel retail. The sale means that the WH Smith name will disappear from British shopping streets as the group’s nearly 500 stores will be renamed TGJones by the new owner, which intends to retain existing products and services, including the Post Office and Toys “R” Us, while gradually adding new product ranges. The WH Smith brand itself is not part of the sales deal and will remain in…

Ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday that the UK government’s moves to address budget challenges were timely and positive steps aimed at tackling declining public finances amid a worrisome fiscal outlook. British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, on Wednesday, rebuilt the fiscal buffer against which the government measures its fiscal rules, partly by cutting welfare payments. “There is a significant risk that the Chancellor will have to cut spending further or introduce new revenue-raising measures in the next budget in October,” Moody’s said in response to Reeves’ Spring Statement. Economists also suggest that economic growth is likely to remain weak, raising the…